Tale of the Hard Truth

Hello Family! How are you doing? The pictures of baby Liam is so cute! And all the kids look so big!! I cant believe that they are all so grown up now! Well this week has been ok not much has happened. I made y'all a video to make up for the lack of excitement :) I hope that it uploads fast. Because that is really all that I have for you. But I do have another  experience that happened this week. So here is my one and only story.

Story 1 and only the Tale of the Hard Truth

This past week we stopped by a Less actives house. She has not been to church in a few years and her reason is this. She has family members who are struggling with homosexuality. And she says that until the church would change and accept her family she would not return. She cried and asked how the true church of God could shun and hurt those around them. Why would god give this situation to her family if it was not alright. She fells that people with challenges such as this should be accepted in the church and allowed the same privileges that all other members have. Because God made them this way. As you know I am not one to shy away from the truth. So as kindly and plainly as I could I told her that this church will never change. Because this is the church of God, and is run by him not man. She tried to argue that God is perfect, but that the men who run the church are flawed by pride and hate. She says that the scriptures are mistranslated/ mis interpreted. I again tried to tell her that the men who lead and guide the church are not perfect but they do the will of God. And the scriptures are the word of God, and as far as they are translated correctly they are true. I bore my testimony that I know that this church is true and that it is not mans church but Gods. Yet still she tried to tie my words and my testimony. Telling me that I could not know that and asked how I could give 18 months of my life to a church that treats people so badly. She continued to say that I could not know that this was the true church because she has asked and not been given her answer. This is were I get very upset with people. How dare they tell me what I know. How Dare they tell me that I can not know that this church is true. This has been one of the hardest tests of my mission, to be kind yet firm. So I again told her the things that I know . That this Church is TRUE! Thomas S Monson is a PROPHET today. The Book of Mormon is TRUE. This is God church NOT mans. Marriage is between a MAN and a WOMAN ONLY. And there are laws given to all men by God that CAN NOT and WILL NOT be changed. As President Monson said this last conference  

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

 Mark concludes the account with the Savior’s statement: “There is none other commandment greater than these.”

 We cannot truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelers on this mortal journey. Likewise, we cannot fully love our fellowmen if we do not love God, the Father‍ of us all."

We need to love the sinner but hate the sin. If we can not then we can not truly love and know God. Elder Holland adds this,

"And what of those who just want to look at sin or touch it from a distance? Jesus said with a flash, if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off.12 “I came not to [bring] peace, but a sword,”13 He warned those who thought He spoke only soothing platitudes. No wonder that, sermon after sermon, the local communities “pray[ed] him to depart out of their coasts.”14 No wonder, miracle after miracle, His power was attributed not to God but to the devil.15 It is obvious that the bumper sticker question “What would Jesus do?” will not always bring a popular response."

Jesus clearly understood what many in our modern culture seem to forget: that there is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it (which He never ever did even once)."

This is so true! The comment "What would Jesus do?" Has often been posed to me as a missionary. And the truth is it is not always what people think. We still need to love those around us despite what they do. No one is perfect so we need to treat all of Gods children with love. Judge not lest ye be judged. I know that this church is true and that it is run by men of God. The church is not perfect but the Gospel that it teaches is the true word of the Lord. This is the hard truth that the world is struggling to ignore. But we know the truth and we need to share it with the world.  

I love y'all so much and I pray that we can all be kind to those around us. I cant wait to hear from you soon.    

Love Sister Chatwin

Wow how she has grown!

Hello my family!! 

How are you all doing? Congrats to Kate and Kendell
on the birth of baby Liam!!! He is so cute and I cant wait to meet
him!! This week has been kinda slow, we have been trying to see lots
of people but not many have been home. The most exciting thing this
week was a lesson that we had with our investigator Olga. We went to
see her and her son was there and wanted to sit in on the lesson. We
had a great talk about the restoration and Joseph Smith. Olga's son
Eddie was very touched. He said that he felt as if he had learned
something new, but that he somehow remembered what he was learning. We
have committed them to baptism and we hope to see them again this
week. 

Well that really was the week. But I will relay an insight that
I have been given this week. On Thursday while talking to a sister and
we got on the subject of trials. We were talking about a sister that
we both know, and how her life has not been easy in any way. She told
me that she was almost jealous of her in some way. Obviously I was
very confused, and asked what she meant. This sister told me that all
her life she has heard things such as "God will never give you what
you cant handle" or "God gives his toughest challenges to his toughest
children". I have heard these things all my life and have taken great
comfort in these words, as I have had my fair share of hard ships and
trial. So I asked what she meant, and was very surprised in the answer
that she gave to me. She said that these statements were almost unfair
in away. In fact she is not the first person to tell me this on my
mission. I have had the opportunity to talk with many sisters from all
different walks of life while serving as a sister training leader. And
a few brought this concern to me, which was this. There lives have not
been that hard, nor have they had "tough" trials. Some have in fact
said that there lives have been almost perfect. This is not to say
that they have not had hard time but when the hardest thing that you
go through is the break up with your boy friend. It is not really
comparable with the trials that many are called through. All of these
sisters have expressed to me that when they hear that God gives his
toughest trials to his toughest children. They feel depressed in away,
or left out. Meaning that they feel that if God gives his toughest
trials to his toughest children, then what are they. They have asked
if they are just not strong enough to be tryed, or that God does not
trust them to make the tough decisions. This has always perplexed me
because I, and so many others have been on the other end of the
spectrum.


Asking things like why me, will I every find peace. Have I not made enough tough choices? A few months ago Mom sent me a talk by uncle Robert titled, "Allotments and Contentment's" So we read this talk together, and found a few things. First is that God gives everyone the things that they need, no more and no less. For some it is required a little more than others to be the person that God wants us to be.



 That does not mean that those who go through more are better
or stronger than others. It means that they needed to go through there
own trials to be the person who God wants them to be. Probably because
they are stubborn and would not chance any other way ;). Second that
we need to be content with the lives that we have been given. This has
been something that I have been thinking a lot about. I was telling
mom the other week that my mission has been so hard, because it seems
that God puts me in slow area to start them back up and then kick me
out before anyone gets baptized. And my last area had a baptism last
Saturday from someone I found... It has been very hard to be the one
that God puts in the slowest areas to start them back up again. And
right when things start to go better I am put in another place that
needs some TLC. I would wonder if God just did not trust me to help
the people there, or if I just was not good enough to the things that
need to be done in the area. This has been on my mind a lot lately.
But mom said something that puts things in to perspective. To quote
mom she said this. "Well I've been thinking a lot about what you said
in your email from last week, you said that you get to an area that's
dead you work really really hard and finally turn things around and
then are sent to somewhere else and 


you don't get to see all of the
people that you've contacted accept the gospel. Well I decided you are
either really humble or maybe stupid ,just kidding ;) I think it's
awesome that the Lord knows your strength and sends you to the areas
that will give the ward and the missionaries what they need. If he
left you in the area that just started to take off who would be there
to get the next area going." I realized that I was having the same
view as this poor sister. I was almost jealous of the missionaries
that get to see there areas grow. When in reality I should feel
blessed to know that I have the mission that I need. No more and no
less. I have seen many wonderful things and had many miracles happen.
I just need to be content with the mission I have been given. I know
that I will see the reasons behind things someday, but till then I
need to be content with my lots in life.

Well I love y'all so very much and cant wait to hear from you soon.

Love Sister Chatwin

No really nothing happened

Hey how are things going? I hope that all is well and that you are all
enjoying the nice summer heat. Well this week was very slow and
nothing happened. No really nothing happened. No one was home, no one
would talk to us, and it was very hot. The ward is doing ok, but they
are struggling with the dinner policy. I am doing well though and I am
getting very excited to see all of you again. I put lots of pictures
in the drop box! Most of them are from service that we did at an old
air plan museum. We dusted things off and then took pictures. Dad the
Hawaiian shirts are for you ;) But I love you all so much and hope
that you all are having a great week. Sorry for the short Email but
again nothing happened this week. But I know that this next week will
be much better and that we will see lots of miracles! I will be one
for a little while if anyone else. I love y'all so much and cant wait
to hear from you soon!

Love Sister Chatwin

"Spiritual Crocodiles"

Well hello there my family! This has been a great week! We have seen
many miracles and have found a few great people whom the Lord has
prepared! I know that my time as a missionary is drawing to a close
but the Lord has not stopped blessing us with many great things! I
feel truly blessed t have this time to serve the Lord and will miss it
when it is over. So here is the stories of the week!

Story 1 The Tale of the Cholo

This past sunday was a great miracle! Church had just ended and we
were out talking to the ward members. When a member asks us to come
and meet this young man. So we went and met this young man. He was one
of the most interesting people that I have every seen in a church
building. He was covered in tattoos, had saggy pants, and a sideways
hat. He apparently just walked in and wanted to learn more. So we
found an awesome member who was willing to stay after church for a
while and help us teach Kevin. That's the young mans name. Well we
started meeting with him and he said that he was just walking by the
church and felt that he needed to come in and learn more. Well we
found out that he was in the Elders area so last night we had a hand
off lesson. The spirit was so strong and he was so very prepared. Oh
and by the way Cholo means gangster in Spanish. There are lots of them
here. But it is just so amazing to see that God has prepared so many
people who are ready to listen.

Story 2 The Tale of Olga

A few months before I came down back to El Paso the sisters got a
media referral. This is when a person goes on online and asks for a
video or a missionary visit. So we give them a the thing that they
requested and teach them a lesson. So the sisters got a referral from
this lady named Olga. Wanted a finding faith in Christ video. So they
took it to her and set up an appointment, unfortunately she did not
keep the appointment. So when I got here they were still trying to met
her. Well the other day when I was on exchanges ( which I will tell
you about later) they were able to meet her husband and set up a time
that we could come back. So we went back and we were able to watch the
movies with her. And if you haven't had a chance to watch that movie
in a while go watch it. The spirit was so strong and I had a strong
feeling that my savior loves me. He knows me and he wants me to be
like him. I am so grateful that I have a Savior who has done so much
for me. And it is because of this that we will all be together
forever. And Olga was so very touched by the spirit, and also the
member who was with us. She was able to bear such a miraculous
testimony, of her love and knowledge of the savior. We are going to
see Olga again this weekend and I know that she will again be touched
by the spirit.

Story 3 The Tale of Exchanges

On the 4th of July I was able to go on an exchanges with the Spanish
sisters. Makall I wish that I had your Spanish because I did not
understand anything that they said. Ok that's not all true, I was able
to tell kind of what she was teaching but as to the full extent and me
adding any input there was nothing. But we did meet a young man who
spoke English, and he has met with missionaries before in Colorado.
And he said that he has been asking God to tell him what it is that he
needs to do. And then here come two missionaries with an answer to the
questions that he has. I now that God hears our prayers. And that he
will put people in our path to be able to help us answer the things
that we need to know. Oh and for dinner we had grilled cheese... Yeah
with the dinner policy it is hard to get dinners some day's. But I
know that President Miller is inspired man. And if the members of the
church would just have faith and invite there friends and the people
that they loved to just meet us. I know that there hearts would be
softened and they would listen to the spirit of the things that we
have to teach and that there would be many brought to the knowledge of
the truthfulness of the gospel.

Tale 4 The Tale of Why this Email took me 3 hours to write........

Ha so yeah it normally does not take me this long to write to you. But
I have found videos on LDS.org and they are really cool! so I have
been watching them as I write to you. There is one in particular that
I feel that would be good to share. It is called "Spiritual
Crocodiles"

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-06-13-spiritual-crocodiles?category=book-of-mormon/book-of-mormon-presentations

Here is the link and I encourage everyone to watch it. It helps us to
know why it is that we need to listen to the voice of the prophet.

I love y'all so much and I know that this church is true. I love being
a missionary, and I hope that y'all are praying for missionary
opportunity's. Have a great week and I hope tot hear from you soon.

Love Sister Chatwin

Full Circle

Well hello family! Well it looks like I have come full circle...
Literally! It seems that I will start and end my mission down in the
West Texas town of El Paso! So God has a very funny sense of humor. I
am in El Paso for the summers and Santa Fe for the winter. I don't
really think that it is funny... But what can we do. This week has
been pretty good week, again it has been above 110 most days. And we
have been walking around a lot trying to find people. So hopefully I
will come home tan and skinny! Hopefully ;) But now lets get on to
the stories of the week! 

Story 1 The Tale of Sister Garate: 

Sister Garate is my new companion. She is 20, from Nevada, and the
oldest of 8 kids. She has a brother in the MTC who is going to the
Philippines. She can play the piano and the cello. And she is a nerd
like me :) She loves Harry Potter, Zelda, and Music. I am so very
grateful that she is my companion! We have had lots of fun and will
have lots of stories to tell soon!

Story 

2 The Tale of Irene and Sister Sullivan:

We are teaching a lady named Irene. She is a very interesting person,
she is kind of upset at God for something but we don't really know
why. This past week she was asking questions like why God can let
innocent people die and do nothing to help the world. And no matter
what scripture or gospel truth we said she would not open her heart.
Then the member who was with us named Sister Sullivan. Was able to
bare such a powerful testimony and was able to say things that we
could not. This just solidified my testimony in having members with
us! So go out with the missionaries! They need you more than you know!

Well that really has been my week. I hope that y'all are having a
great week and I cant wait to hear from you soon!! 

Love Sister Chatwin